Libyan Civil War Megathread

[citizen k]

The people in Misrata can handle the snipers albeit slowly.

Residents celebrated and chanted "God is great" after the snipers left a  battle-scarred insurance building that is the highest point in central  Misrata, according to a witness who identified himself only as Sohaib.

"Thanks  to God, the snipers fled, leaving nothing behind at the insurance  building after they were cut off from supplies — ammunition, food and  water — for days," added another resident, Abdel Salam.

He called it "a major victory" because the structure gave the pro-Gadhafi forces a commanding view of the city.

[Legbiter]

The people in Misrata can handle the snipers albeit slowly.

Residents celebrated and chanted "God is great" after the snipers left a  battle-scarred insurance building that is the highest point in central  Misrata, according to a witness who identified himself only as Sohaib.

"Thanks  to God, the snipers fled, leaving nothing behind at the insurance  building after they were cut off from supplies — ammunition, food and  water — for days," added another resident, Abdel Salam.

He called it "a major victory" because the structure gave the pro-Gadhafi forces a commanding view of the city.

So, sneak in, fire off all ammo, sneak back out. Rinse and repeat.

[Mr.Penguin]

The people in Misrata can handle the snipers albeit slowly.

Residents celebrated and chanted "God is great" after the snipers left a  battle-scarred insurance building that is the highest point in central  Misrata, according to a witness who identified himself only as Sohaib.

"Thanks  to God, the snipers fled, leaving nothing behind at the insurance  building after they were cut off from supplies — ammunition, food and  water — for days," added another resident, Abdel Salam.

He called it "a major victory" because the structure gave the pro-Gadhafi forces a commanding view of the city.

So, sneak in, fire off all ammo, sneak back out. Rinse and repeat.

In this conflict is anyone who doesnt run around firing from the hip or alternatively posing in front of cameras, a "sniper"...  

[KRonn]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/22/mccain-travels-libya-meet-rebel-forces/

McCain Lauds Anti-Qaddafi Forces During Libya Visit

BENGHAZI, Libya -- U.S. Sen. John McCain, one of the strongest proponents in Congress of the American military intervention in Libya, said Friday that Libyan rebels fighting Muammar Qaddafi's troops are his heroes.

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee made the remark after arriving in Benghazi, a city that has been the opposition capital in the rebel-held eastern Libya.

McCain said he was in Benghazi "to get an on the ground assessment of the situation" and planned to meet with the rebel National Transition Council, the de-facto government in the eastern half of the country, and members of the rebel military.

"They are my heroes," McCain said of the rebels as he walked out of a local hotel in Benghazi. He was traveling in an armored Mercedes jeep and had a security detail. A few Libyans waved American flags as his vehicle drove past.

McCain's visit is the highest yet by an American official to the rebel-held east and a boost to the anti-Qaddafi forces. Details of the trip were shrouded in secrecy due to heightened security in a country fiercely divided by the two-month-old anti-Qaddafi rebellion.

McCain's trip comes as Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Thursday that President Barack Obama has authorized armed Predator drones against forces loyal to Qaddafi. It is the first time that drones will be used for airstrikes since the United States turned over control of the operation to NATO on April 4.

The rebels have complained that NATO airstrikes since then have largely been ineffective in stopping Qaddafi forces.

Invoking the humanitarian disasters in Rwanda and Bosnia in the 1990s, McCain pressed for U.S. military intervention in Libya in February, weeks before the U.N. Security Council authorized military action to protect civilians and impose a no-fly zone.

When Obama acted with limited congressional consultation, McCain -- who was the 2008 Republican presidential contender running against Obama -- defended the president, saying he couldn't wait for Congress to take even a few days to debate the use of force. If he had, "there would have been nothing left to save in Benghazi," the rebels' de-facto capital.

But as the U.S. handed operational control over to NATO -- and withdrew U.S. combat aircraft -- McCain criticized the administration.

"For the United States to withdraw our unique offensive capabilities at this time would send the wrong signal," McCain said. He said the U.S. must not fail in Libya and said he spoke as someone experienced in a lost conflict, a reference to his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, where he served as a Navy pilot.

McCain also has pushed for arming the rebels, saying the U.S. and its partners cannot allow Qaddafi to consolidate his hold on one section of the country and create a military deadlock.

[DGuller]

The people in Misrata can handle the snipers albeit slowly.

Residents celebrated and chanted "God is great" after the snipers left a  battle-scarred insurance building that is the highest point in central  Misrata, according to a witness who identified himself only as Sohaib.

"Thanks  to God, the snipers fled, leaving nothing behind at the insurance  building after they were cut off from supplies — ammunition, food and  water — for days," added another resident, Abdel Salam.

He called it "a major victory" because the structure gave the pro-Gadhafi forces a commanding view of the city.

No, not the insurance building. 

[jimmy olsen]

The people in Misrata can handle the snipers albeit slowly.

Residents celebrated and chanted "God is great" after the snipers left a  battle-scarred insurance building that is the highest point in central  Misrata, according to a witness who identified himself only as Sohaib.

"Thanks  to God, the snipers fled, leaving nothing behind at the insurance  building after they were cut off from supplies — ammunition, food and  water — for days," added another resident, Abdel Salam.

He called it "a major victory" because the structure gave the pro-Gadhafi forces a commanding view of the city.

No, not the insurance building. 

Lol, I immediately thought of you when I read that.

[Maximus]

Did it look like this?

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Did it look like this?

that's one very visible sniper

[Maximus]

That's not the sniper, that's the previous resident.

[CountDeMoney]

No, not the insurance building. 

Think of it this way, they could write off their own claim.

[jimmy olsen]

Gaddafi's compound was hammered today.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42737249/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

[Mr.Penguin]

A rare sight, a rebel who looks like he know what he is doing...

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1d5_1303580637

[Slargos]

If you listen closely, you can hear them screaming their islamic filth at the end there.

Or actually, you don't have to listen closely, their religious chanting is all through the video.

"This is not a religious conflict, we don't need to worry about the muslims".

Fucking 'tards. Feeding the fucking trolls AGAIN.

[LaCroix]

what's this, religious chanting in a warzone? 

[MadImmortalMan]

Libya: pro-Gaddafi forces cross into Tunisia
Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi crossed into neighbouring Tunisia and fought a gun battle with Tunisian troops in a frontier town as Libya's conflict spilt beyond its borders.

12:47PM BST 29 Apr 2011

Pro-Gaddafi forces fired shells into the town of Dehiba, damaging buildings and injuring at least one resident, and a group of them drove into the town in a truck, local people and a Reuters photographer in the town said.

The Libyan government troops were pursuing anti-Gaddafi rebels from the restive Western Mountains region of Libya who fled into Tunisia in the past few days after Gaddafi forces overran the border post the rebels had earlier seized.

"There were lots of clashes in the town this morning. Lots of gunshots. The Tunisian military clashed with Gaddafi's forces ... Some of Gaddafi's people were killed," said Reuters photographer Zoubeir Souissi from the town.

"There are a lot of Gaddafi's people who were injured. They are in the hospital in Dehiba," he said.

Two residents also told Reuters that shells had fallen on the town from pro-Gaddafi positions across the border in Libya.

"Rounds from the bombardment are falling on houses.... A Tunisian woman was injured," one of the residents, called Ali, told Reuters by telephone.

He said later the fighting and shelling had stopped. "The Tunisian army is combing the town. We have no idea about the fate of Gaddafi's forces there because the Tunisian army closed the gates to the town and nobody is allowed to enter."

A Libyan rebel said anti-Gaddafi fighters had retaken control of the border crossing near Dehiba. The main crossing into Libya, two hours' drive to the north, remains firmly under Libyan government control.

"Right here at this point I'm looking at the new (rebel) flag flying up there at the border. The rebels have got control of it, the freedom fighters. We're just in the process of opening it up," rebel Akram el Muradi said by telephone.

Tunisia's government late on Thursday issued a statement condemning incursions by Libyan forces after shells fired by Gaddafi loyalists fell into the desert near the border.

"Given the gravity of what has happened ... the Tunisian authorities have informed the Libyans of their extreme indignation and demand measures to put an immediate stop to these violations," a statement from the foreign ministry said.

Friday's clashes marked the first time that Libyan government ground forces had crossed the border and entered a Tunisian town.

Residents said that a crowd of local people gathered in Dehiba on Friday morning to try to prevent pro-Gaddafi forces from entering the town.

They said the Tunisian military fired in the air to disperse them, and urged the demonstrators to seek shelter from the shelling inside their homes.

Tunisia toppled its own veteran leader, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, in a revolution earlier this year and many people there are sympathetic to the rebels fighting Gaddafi's forces.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8483234/Libya-pro-Gaddafi-forces-cross-into-Tunisia.html